


Despite Everything

by leiaryes



Series: Anywhere, Everywhere (All I Want Is You) [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Hurt/Comfort, Keith's Wolf Is A Little Shit, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post Season 6, its just fluff, just take it, klance, or maybe angst, soft angst?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 01:29:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15232371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leiaryes/pseuds/leiaryes
Summary: I’d give up a thousand galaxies for you,he thought almost desperately.I’d destroy a thousand universes, abolish a thousand stars if it meant you could be happy.A post-season 6 klance fic





	Despite Everything

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to my earlier fic: [Come Back To Me.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12374982) While it's not _necessary_ to read it before this one, I do make some references to it here that make more sense when you have the context
> 
> Anyways, I really hope you guys enjoy this! After seeing season 6, I knew I couldn't _not_ write a little klance scene for it :)
> 
> P.S. I totally jumped on the headcanon that Keith's wolf was named Yorak (and that he loved Lance)
> 
> Happy reading!

The fire crackled in front of him as another small branch snapped and became lost to the flames. He watched as the twig blackened, charring away until it was but a shadow of what it once was. A remnant of a tree fallen long ago. The heat emanating from the blaze was strong—strong enough to ward away the chill that was quickly seeping in now that the two suns of the planet they were calling home for the night were well on their way past the horizon.

Keith looked around at the group sitting huddled around the campfire. To his right sat Hunk and Pidge, heads bent together and deep in conversation about some sort of hyperturbulating generator engine. Keith wasn’t really sure what that was, but it seemed plenty interesting for the team’s resident tech wizards, so that was enough for him. To his right sat his mother, Romelle, and Coran. The three appeared to be in a heavy debate about a topic Keith was too far away to make out, but he saw the moment the discussion reached its climax, Coran throwing his arms in the air, vigorously shaking his head as his mother and Romelle chuckled.

Across the fire from him sat Allura and Shiro. Keith watched with a small smile as the Altean princess helped the latter with a packet of food goo, the male’s hand still possessing a slight tremble as he gratefully accepted the food held out for him. Keith found his gaze sliding to Shiro’s right shoulder, and down further, to where the sleeve of his dark shirt ended in a simple, tight knot. His stomach lurched as memories came hurtling back.

_Shiro standing over him, eyes devoid entirely of any semblance of emotion, preparing to deliver the final blow._

_The desperation washing over him, knowing that the thing before him was no longer his brother. Had never been in the first place._

_And then the noise. The awful, screeching noise of his bayard cutting through the metal of Shiro’s arm._

Keith shut his eyes, breaths coming out laboured as he willed the images to recede. Logically, he knew he hadn’t had much choice. The Shiro he had fought had not been his brother, had not been the man who had raised Keith into the person he was today. He’d seen it in his eyes, heard it in his words. He _knew_ that he had done the only thing he could have done, _knew_ that by not killing the body, he had allowed _his_ Shiro to come back. But he couldn’t help it. Gazing now at the older male’s missing limb, Keith couldn’t quell the thought that was growing ever louder inside his head.

_I did that._

_I did that to him._

Almost unconsciously, Keith found himself reaching into the bag by his feet, moving away spare changes of clothes until his fingers caught on the corner of what he was looking for. He pulled it out, smoothening the edges, and regarded the photograph in his hands. He had picked it up before he’d left for the Blade all those years ago (months, he supposed, for the others). It was of the team, standing together, hope gleaming in their eyes as they’d prepared to fight Zarkon.

Keith found his eyes immediately locking onto Shiro’s image. The pride that radiated from him, the endless love he carried for his team, even then. Staring at the photograph and looking at Shiro now…. Well, the contrast hurt Keith more than he let on.

Another crackle brought Keith out of his thoughts, and as he raised his gaze from the photograph in his hands, he found it meeting _blue._ Sharp, piercing, undeniable _blue._ Something fluttered in his chest. He’d recognize those eyes anywhere.

Lance averted his gaze as Keith met it, and Keith…didn’t want to think about how sour of a feeling that left him with.

That was another thing.

He hadn’t forgotten about the words they’d exchanged before he’d left. Quite frankly, he didn’t know if he could. They were all he’d been able to think about during his first few weeks with the Blade.

 _Come back to us,_ Lance had told him.

Keith found his gaze returning to the photograph, eyes singling out Lance as the boy leaned against him in the picture. The smirk painted on his lips was bright, the amusement gleaming in his pupils palpable even through the picture. Keith didn’t need to feel his cheeks to know how red he’d gotten.

He looked back up at the boy, and immediately found himself frowning. Lance was seated a little ways off from the rest of the group, leaning against the base of the red lion’s paw. He had his jacket fit snug around his shoulders, and he appeared to be deep in thought as his fingers picked at a clump of grass beside him.

The boy was quiet. _Much too quiet,_ Keith thought. He’d expected Lance to have delved into a story by now; joked about one thing or another with Hunk; pestered Pidge with her electronics until she’d given up and let him have his way. The fact that he hadn’t done any one of those things worried Keith.

Granted, he’d noticed the subtle changes. Lance had become more somber in the time Keith was gone, had taken on more of a leadership position. Keith had seen it in their battles. He’d even felt a sense of pride, listening to Lance give orders to the rest of his teammates.

But at the end of the day, he had expected Lance to be…well, _Lance._ There wasn’t any other way to put it. He had expected to come back to the same childish jabs, the same endearing smile and lively eyes. He had expected to come back to the boy who could get a rise out of him just as easily as he could make him laugh. He had expected to come back to _Lance,_ and it tore at everything inside of him when it dawned on him that he hadn’t.

Keith found his feet moving before he registered the action. He passed by the fire, moved past his mother and Romelle who were still in discussion with Coran. His strides took him beyond the shadow of the black lion, whose being had now become a permanent presence in the back of his mind. His body moved until he was standing only a few feet away from Lance, and then just as quickly as his feet had brought him here, they stopped, leaving Keith wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now.

He wrung his hands together, unsure of how to proceed. If he were Lance, he probably would have opened with a flirtatious one-liner. But he wasn’t Lance, and the two of them weren’t…like that. So, he stood there, silent, teeth worrying at his bottom lip.

“Did you need something?”

Keith’s eyes snapped up, and in that moment, he didn’t think anything in the universe could have prepared him for what he found.

Lance’s eyes were blue.

Keith knew that. He’d known it since the both of them had carried Shiro out of the Garrison hospital. He’d known it while looking into Lance’s eyes after their battle with Sendak. He’d known it as Lance had thrown his arms around him and embraced him before he’d left the team for the Blade. Hell, he’d known it just a few minutes ago, when the two of them had briefly made eye contact from across the fire.

But standing before him now, it was the only intelligible thought running through his mind.

_Lance’s eyes were blue._

They were blue like the depths of the darkest oceans, blue like the night sky on a cloudless, summer evening. They were the waves that crashed against the cliffside, the rush of liquid that fell over the edge of a waterfall. They were vast and infinite, endless as the universe itself. And they pulled him in, drowned him and left him gasping for breath.

Keith wasn’t so out of touch with his emotions to know what he was feeling. He’d come to terms with it during his time with the Blade, realized the magnitude of his affections for the boy in front of him as he’d lied awake in his bed at night, picturing his eyes and soft smile. He’d talked about it with his mother after she had questioned him, when a flashback of the two boys had caused her to become suspicious. He wasn’t ashamed to admit the depth of his feelings, but that didn’t make it any easier when Lance was sitting before him, blue eyes wide and awaiting a response.

Keith cleared his throat. Ran a hand through his hair for good measure. “Hi”, he managed weakly.

“Hi.” Lance’s voice was timid when it came out, almost shy, and that more than anything was what let Keith sink to the ground beside him. He leaned against his old lion, sending out a silent _hello_ to the ship that had first taken him. He couldn’t feel Red’s entire being anymore, but he thought he felt a familiar rumble at the back of his mind as he greeted the lion. Beside him, Lance let out a soft chuckle.

“He remembers you,” the boy whispered. “And he says not to pull the same shit you pulled with him on Black.”

At his words, Keith huffed a laugh, gaze finding its way from the red lion to Lance. “No promises,” he murmured. His words came out hushed, a low hum that blanketed over the two of them. He didn’t know why they were being so quiet; they were plenty enough distance away from the rest of the group for their conversation to go unheard. But something about it, something about being there with Lance, covered by a curtain of stars above them, made him want to save his words solely for the boy beside him.

They lapsed into silence, neither looking at the other. It was enough for Keith, to sit there with his former lion and the boy he cared for, to shift slightly and feel Lance’s presence at his shoulder. If he were braver, he might’ve put his arm around the other, might’ve closed the distance between their hands and linked them together. But all things considered, Keith was a coward, and he didn’t dare upset the timid balance they had found between themselves. He was fine, really. More than fine it he got to sit next to Lance like this.

“I missed you.” Lance’s words were spoken into the night air, just as hushed as his previous ones had been. He wasn’t looking at Keith, but rather staring up into the expanse of sky above them. His lips were slightly parted, hair a little mussed from the evening breeze, and in that moment, Keith didn’t think he’d seen anything more beautiful.

He couldn’t have stopped his next words from tumbling out even if he had tried.

“I missed you, too.”

Lance turned to look at him then, and something in Keith’s stomach fluttered as he watched the smallest of smiles flit across the boy’s lips. He held his breath as Lance moved a little closer and nudged his shoulder.

“You didn’t act like it,” the brunette teased, though Keith could see the hesitation in his eyes. Lance was trying to make their interaction lighthearted, but he could see the hurt hidden just beneath the surface. Immediately, Keith found himself turning fully towards him, violet irids meeting blue as his words came rushing out.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

It wasn’t much, but it was all he had. Keith wasn’t good with words; that was Lance’s forte. He spoke with his actions, willed others to understand his feelings through his recklessness. His hand moved to rest atop Lance’s, and Keith pleaded with him to understand. To hear him.

_I’m sorry for leaving you._

_I’m sorry for not being there for you._

_I’m sorry for never checking in._

_I’m sorry for hurting you._

He conveyed what he could never speak aloud through his touch, through the gentle swipe of his thumb across the back of Lance’s hand. He was terrified of the prospect of the other boy moving away, but when he didn’t, Keith found the courage to turn his own hand over and hold Lance’s, not quite lacing their fingers together, but squeezing it nevertheless in reassurance.

_I’m here now._

_And I’ll never leave you again._

Lance didn’t say anything, but Keith felt the warmth of the boy’s tan skin as he squeezed back, and that was more than enough for him.

They lapsed into silence once again, hands still clasped together, and Keith found himself watching Lance.

He really was beautiful. The way the moonlight cut across his cheeks, the way the light from the fire ignited his dark eyes. He wasn’t commanding, like Shiro. But he didn’t have the kind of delicate grace and poise that Allura possessed, either.

No, Lance was quiet. He was soft and timid. His beauty came from his humility, Keith thought. His tendency to always look past himself and focus on others. It was in his compassion, in the kindness of his eyes. It was in his ability to know exactly how to make another feel better.

Keith didn’t think he could fall any further, but looking at Lance now, he thought that maybe he already was.

A commotion to their left had both boys looking up, their sudden movement drawing apart their hands. Keith turned his gaze in time to see Yorak—the wolf he had adopted during his time away—appearing beside his mother, the picture of nonchalance and innocence as a very dishevelled Coran rose to his feet next to them. Keith saw the man stutter and turn scarlet, heard the rest of the group dissolve into laughter as the wolf sauntered up and licked the hand of the Altean.

Beside him, Lance let out a soft breath of laughter, before the boy averted his gaze and stared down at the ground beneath him. Keith regarded him.

“Why don’t you join them?” he asked curiously, because if he were being honest, he had wondered. In any other situation, he thought, Lance would have been the first to jump at the chance to socialize. The fact that he wasn’t was strange. At least to Keith.

Lance chuckled, his hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck absentmindedly. “I just wanted some quiet,” he murmured, but Keith got the distinct feeling there was more. He was reaching for the boy’s hand again, reassurances sitting on the tip of his tongue, when Lance opened his mouth to continue. “Besides, they’re all having fun. I don’t want to trouble them with this.”

“With what?” This time, Keith did grasp the other boy’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze for good measure. His eyes met blue. “Lance,” he whispered, “you can tell me.”

The boy was silent for a long moment, merely staring at Keith with a hesitant expression.

 _He’s trying to decide if he should tell me,_ Keith realized.

The raven-haired boy allowed his face to fall into its most open appearance. He wanted Lance to look at him and find no walls. To find no barriers to fight his way through and overcome. He wanted to let go for this boy. This boy, who would let the universe burden him with its troubles but hesitate to speak aloud his own. Keith wanted utterly, and so entirely to be there for him. To be his rock just as he’d been Keith’s own.

He didn’t speak, didn’t press Lance any further. Only sat there with his eyes trained on the boy, waiting.

When Lance spoke, it was quiet. So quiet, that Keith would have missed his words had all of his attention not been trained on the boy before him.

“I died, Keith.”

 Whatever he had been prepared for, it was not that. Keith’s breath hitched. Body stilled. He felt his grip on Lance’s hand tighten. Heard more than felt the rapid pulsations of his heart increase in severity. His own words, when they came out, sounded more like he was chocking on air than speaking.

“What?”

Lance let out a shaky exhale, the hand holding Keith’s flexing unconsciously. “The Galra were shooting at us, and they were going to hit Allura.” He paused then, taking in an unsteady breath, and Keith brushed his thumb over the boy’s skin in reassurance. “I—she was going to get hurt.” Lance’s grip tightened. “I couldn’t let her get hurt.”

“I think I got shocked—I can’t really remember. Allura brought me back.”

The silence that followed was deafening. Keith didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what to do. Off to the side, the rest of their group talked, laughing and enjoying the night, completely unaware of what was happening just a few feet over.

Keith couldn’t look at Lance. Couldn’t even look at their hands.

_He’d lost him._

For a few moments, Keith had lost Lance.

And he hadn’t even known.

The thought sent his pulse hammering. His breaths became uneven, and it was all he could do to keep himself from hyperventilating.

“It was so dark.” Lance’s words rang in his ears. “And it was quiet. I couldn’t—I couldn’t feel anything. It was like I wasn’t even there anymore.”

Something in the boy’s tone made Keith look up. His expression was hollow, like all the light had been pulled from his eyes. The blue of Lance’s irids was washed out. Faded. His shoulders were sagged, head hanging low.

He didn’t look sad, as Keith would have expected. And he didn’t look scared. He looked exhausted. Like he’d been drained of everything.

 _Empty,_ was what Keith would have called it. Something within him broke at the sight.

Tentatively, he reached an arm out. He met Lance’s gaze, searching for resistance, and finding none, slowly guided the boy’s head to his shoulder. Lance went willingly, fitting himself into the crook of the raven-haired boy’s arm as silence settled over them.

“I’m sorry,” Keith whispered into the quiet. His fingers threaded themselves through the soft strands of Lance’s hair. “I know that’s probably not what you want to hear right now, but I don’t know what else to say. I’m sorry.”

Lance shifted against him, pulling the rest of his body in closer. “Just you being here is enough,” he murmured. He didn’t cry, and Keith thought it was most likely because there were no more tears left to let fall. The boy against him was utterly devoid of emotion, so exhausted that not even a single droplet had enough strength to form.

It left him wondering just how many times Lance had been alone, holed up by himself with only his thoughts for company. It left him thinking just how many times he had cried, draining himself to the point of numbness. And it left him contemplating just how many times Lance must have ignored it, choosing to prioritize the wellbeing of his teammates over the sheer magnitude of the emotions pounding away inside of him.

His chest contracted.

 _I’d give up a thousand galaxies for you,_ he thought almost desperately. _I’d destroy a thousand universes, abolish a thousand stars if it meant you could be happy._

Lance toyed with one of Keith’s fingers. “You know, when I— _when it happened,_ all I could think about was how I never got to say goodbye.”

“Not to my family. Not to the team. Not to you.”

The arm he had around Lance tightened. Lance continued.

“I never would’ve been able to see them again.” A beat of silence, as though he were steeling himself for what came next. “See _you_ again.”

“You can see us now.”

Slowly, Lance lifted his head from its position against Keith’s shoulder. His eyes bore into the latter, the intensity of their gaze taking his breath away. A fire was burning beneath Lance’s blue, blue eyes. The waves were growing; the rapids churned faster. His lips were parted, and Keith found himself mesmerized with the curve and dip of the boy’s Cupid’s bow.

“I thought about you,” Lance spoke. “ _A lot._ When it happened, and while you were gone. I just—I kept thinking about how much I wanted to tell you. Like when we found Matt. Or when Hunk made a joke that I knew you wouldn’t get, I’d turn around to explain it you, only to remember that you weren’t there anymore.”

Keith’s heart lurched for the umpteenth time that evening. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, because he didn’t really know what else to say. Where would he find the words to comfort Lance? How would he ever be able to make up for it, to take away all the pain that the boy before him had endured? His thumb brushed circles over the tan of Lance’s skin. The boy looked down at the action before continuing, seeming to find courage in the way Keith’s skin traced patterns over his own.

“There were nights when I thought about calling you. Demanding Kolivan that I see you.” Both boys chuckled, knowing wholeheartedly how well that would have gone over. “There was even a day when I thought about flying Red to the base myself. And then I was getting shocked, and all I could think about was how I never got to see you. How I never got to tell you that I—”

Lance stopped abruptly, seeming to register his words. His gaze dropped immediately, but Keith didn’t miss the light colouring of his cheeks as the glow from the fire illuminated them. A swell of affection overwhelmed him as he regarded Lance’s hesitancy.

“That you what, Lance? Keith tempted gently.

Lance looked up at him, and Keith met his gaze freely. There was a shyness to the boy now, a nervousness that hadn’t been there before. His cheeks had become darker, blue eyes slightly wider. He swallowed.

“That I…,” he began, and then seeming to change his mind, shook his head. He gave the raven-haired boy a small smile. “It’s nothing, Keith.”

But Lance’s gaze remained, and Keith felt his own ears heating up. The red paladin was staring at him, still with that smile spread across his lips. Keith was trapped. He was pinned beneath dark, dark blue, and he wasn’t entirely certain he wanted to be set free. When Lance next spoke, it was the quietest Keith had ever heard him.

“You came back to me.”

His words were soft-spoken, barely there to begin with, but they sent Keith reeling. His mind conjured up a similar scene:

_A dimly lit bedroom and a plea uttered into the silence between two boys. A desperate embrace and a goodbye gone unspoken._

_“Come back to us.”_

Keith’s breath came out unsteady. Lance was still staring at him.

Violet eyes latched onto blue. A universe searched for answers in a bottomless ocean.

Lance’s expression was warm when Keith met it. His face was radiant, illuminated by the light of the dimming fire. His cheekbones cut shadows that left Keith wanting to trace with his fingers. His lips parted in such a manner that it took Keith everything within him to keep from reaching out and brushing his thumb over them.

Lance was beautiful.

He was so, _so_ beautiful, and in that moment, Keith realized how truly and utterly _gone_ for him he was.  

Tentatively, he lifted a hand, raising it to come to rest on the side of the boy’s cheek. Keith smiled, ever so gently. “Of course, I came back,” he whispered. “I’d come back to you anywhere.”

_I’d cross ten-thousand star systems for you. Travel a hundred light years just to see you smile._

Lance’s eyes crinkled. The hand that wasn’t in Keith’s grasp came to rest atop the one on his cheek, and the boy turned his head slightly to lean into the touch. Keith found himself leaning in, unable to remain where he was any longer.

“Lance, I….” He was being pulled in, gravitating towards Lance almost helplessly. Lance’s light was blinding, his touch burning. They were going to collide. Keith was going to break, he knew that. But Keith had never been able to run from fire, and this time was no different.

He wasn’t flying too close to the sun. He was running head first into the blazing inferno.

 _Kiss him,_ his mind screamed. _Kiss him kiss him kiss him kiss him._

His eyes closed the same time Lance’s did. Their breaths intertwined until Keith wasn’t sure where one of them began and the other ended. Their lips parted, growing ever closer.

And then they were thrown backwards.

Keith lifted himself up from the ground with a groan, a hand coming up to rub at the back of his head where he’d hit it. A little ways off from him, he saw Lance doing the same. Keith’s eyes searched, trying to find the cause for the interruption, and immediately found himself frowning.

Yorak lay between the two paladins, head resting on his paws and an amused glint in his eyes. His posture was relaxed, as though he were none the wiser to what he had just done.

“Really, Yorak?” Keith grumbled. The wolf raised his eyes to meet him, feigning innocence. He tilted his head, eyes going wide. Keith glared. “Don’t pull those eyes on me.”

A snort. A snicker. And then Lance was laughing, full-bellied and genuine. Yorak’s ears immediately perked, and before Keith could utter a warning, the wolf was at Lance’s side, pawing at him and licking the boy’s face without mercy. Keith rolled his eyes.

Figures his wolf would get to kiss Lance before him.

Despite it all, Keith couldn’t fight the smile that wound its way across his lips. He watched as Lance fell beneath Yorak’s weight, watched as the boy laughed and scratched the wolf’s ears as he played with him. Lance’s cheeks were flushed; his voice was coming out breathless.

Keith thought he had never looked more radiant.

Around them, the camp was growing quiet. The fire had dimmed to a few small embers, the last of the smoke rising up into the air. The rest of their team had scattered, retiring to their lions to turn in for the night. Above them, the moon shined down, painting everything in its glow and settling a calm, peaceful atmosphere over them.

Keith met Lance’s gaze from beneath Yorak’s fur.

 _We have all the time in the world_ , he realized, shooting a smile the boy’s way.

All the time in the world, to figure it out together.

All the time in the world, to decide where to go from there.

Because despite everything—despite war and time and however many countless galaxies there were between them, the two of them would be there.

They would come back to each other.

_Always._

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys had fun with that! I know I had a blast writing it :)
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment or kudos, and as always, you can come scream about klance with me on my tumblr: [here](https://leiaryes.tumblr.com)


End file.
